Sylvania



E. U. AMES.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED Nov.e.

Patented Nov. 4, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET I.

E. U. AMES.

KNITTING MACHINE. APPLICATION man NOV-8.1915.

Patented N 0v. 4, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

E. U. AIVIES.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8. 1915.

Patented Nov. 4, 1919.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

LSQASQ Patented Nov. 4, 1919.

5 SHEETS SHEET 4.

E. U. AMES.

KNITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 8. 1915.

5 SHEETSSH EET 5- Patenflrd Nov. 4, 1919.

UNITED @TATES PATENT @FFIKJE.

ELMER U. AMES, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB, T H. BRIN TON COMPANY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENN- SYLVAN'IA.

' HITTING-MACHINE.

Patented Nov. 4., 1919.

4 Original application filed February 9, 1915, Serial No. 7,111. Divided and this application filed November 8,

To all whom it may concern.

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented Knitting-Machines, (being a division of my application for U. S. patent, Serial No.

7,111, filed February 9, 1915), of which the following is a specification.

One object of this invention is to provide relatively simple and substantial means for adjustably supporting and controlling the operation of certain of the cams of a circular knitting machine, the arrangement of parts being such that the operation shall be reliable and the adjustment of such a nature as to permit of the accurate positioning of the several parts.

I further desire to provide a reliable and efiicient form of picker mechanism for vertically moving the needles, with a relatively simple and substantial device for controlling the action of the needles.

The invention also contemplates a novel construction and arrangement of the needle actuatin cams, together with eflicient and substantial mechanism for governing their operation.

These objects and other advantageous ends I secure as hereinafter set forth, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 are respectively a side elevation and a plan of parts of a circular knitting machine embodying my invention;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line a-ai Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation, partly in section, illustrating certain of the parts shown in Fig. 2 in their raised positions;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on an enlarged scale, taken on the line ?)-b, Fig. 3;

Figs. 6 and 7 are respectively a front and a side elevation of the needle. raising and lowering cani mechanism forming part of my invention;

Figs. 8, 9 and 10 are perspective views of certain of the parts shown in Figs. 6 and 7;

Fig. 11 is a perspective view illustrating the adjusting mechanism for certain of the cams;

Figs. 12 to inclusive are sections taken 18 surroundin Serial No. 60,299.

on the lines 00, d-'d, e@ and /'f respectively of Fig. 11, and 1 Figs. 16 and 17 are developed elevations showing certain of the needle and sinker cams in the positions occupied in-making the grooves 3 for the reception of needles 4.

The lower end. of said cylinder fits within a ring 5 having set screws 6 placed to respectively enter recesses 7 in said cylinder,

which may be removed when said screws are sufiiciently backed off. Fixed to the lower portion of the ring 5 is a gear 8.

The upper portion of the needle cylinder has fixed to it a sinker ring 13 for the reception of sinkers 15 which are normally held in definite positions relatively thereto by means of a coil spring 16 and have their ends 14 pivotally operative in a groove 2 in said cylinder. The actuating arms 17 of the sinkers extend within a sinker cam ring the sinker ring 13 and a sinker cam 19 is mounted on said ring so as to engage the upper portions of said arms.

A post 27 forms a support for the cam ring 63 in whichthe needle actuating cams are mounted, and in the present case I provide stitch cams 64 and 65 positioned on opposite sides of an upper center cam 66 and a lower center cam 67. Guard cams 68 and .69 are mounted above the outer ends of the stitch cams and serve in the usual manner to prevent the needles from passing out of their prescribed courses. In order to make and close outlet passages for the needles after they have passed under either of said stitch cams, I provide a movable ledge cam 70 and cooperating cams 71 and 72.

In Figs. 2, and 11 to 15 inclusive, 1 have shown the adjusting meansfor the cams 64, 65, 71 and 72, although since the two cams of each pair ofthese are of substantially the same form, I have illustrated in detail only the cams 65 and 72 with their associated mechanism. The cam 65 has a projecting plate 87 designed to slide upon an inclined the screw ter extends within the groove 89, while the former engages the upper edge of the plate 87.

By loosening the screws 91 and turning 93, the stitch cam may be adjusted toward or from the cams 67 and 72, and if it is desired to remove thecam 65 without changing its adjustment, it is only necessary to remove the screws 91, after which the plate 87 with the cam may be removed without turning the screw 93. To replace the cam, the plate 87 is lowered until the lug 97 enters the groove 89, which serves as a gage to insure the return of said cam to exactly the, same position which it occupied before its removal, after which the screws 91 may be set up? i The card 72 has a projecting plate 98 designed to slide on the fiat surface 99 of the cam ring 63 and provided with a tongue 100 slidable within a groove 101, being held to the ring by a screw 102 passing through a slot 103. Said plate has mounted in it an adjusting screw 104 whose head 105 extends within a recess 106 in the cam plate, the arrangement being such that turning of said screw moves the cam 72 toward or from the stitch cam 65. The forward ends of the cams 71 and 72 are arranged to extend respectively under the ends of a cushion cam 107 which is beveled at 108 in order to make a flush or even joint with the needle engaging surfaces of said cams so that the needles as they pass under the stitch cams will not am. I

Said cams 71 and 72 may be removed from the machine merely by taking out the screws 102 and raising the plates 98 until the screw'heads 105 are clear of the recess 106, and they may obviously be replaced in precisely their original positions by lower ing them into contact with the cam ring 63 in such manner that the screw head 105 enters said recess. If the cams have been "ground or otherwise changed in shape while removed from the machine, they may be adjusted with the utmost accuracy after being replaced, by turning the screw 104, as will be understood from Fig. 11.

For raising the long butt needles out of the path of the knitting cams, I provide a specially constructed switch cam shown in detail in Figs. 6 to 10, and consisting of a bracket 109 secured by means of screws to the cam ring This bracket forms a pivotal bearing for a structure lll supporting two cams 112 and 119, and mounted on a pivot pin 114 which extends parallel to a tangent to the needle cylinder so as to be free to oscillate to alternately move these cams toward and from the needle cylinder. This cam support 111 has two lugs 115 and 116 placed to be engaged by an actuating member 117 which has a central flat faced projecting portion 118 between recesses 119 and 120.

The lugs 115 and 116 are positioned, as shown in Fig. 7, on opposite sides of a'plane extending through the center line of the pin 114;" and between the cams 112 and 113 so as to alternately enter the recesses 119 and 120 when the actuating member 117 is ver-..

tically reciprocated, causing the cams 112 and 113 to alternately move toward and from the needle cylinder. It is noted that the distance between these recesses 119 and 120 is greatenthan that between the centers of the lugs 115 and 116 so that when one of the latter is within its recess the other as resting against the face of the projection 118, thereby preventing further oscillating movement of the support 111, until the actuating member is moved. Thus as shown in. Fig. 7, the lug 11.6 is within the recess 120 while the lug 115 is in engagement with the face of the part 118, so that the cam support 111 can only be moved by moving downwardly the actuating member 117.

In order to actuate the cams 112 and 118 so that the latter of them will be moved toward and the former from the needle cylinder, it is necessary to move the actuating member 117 downwardly, thus causing the cam surface formed by the wall of the recess 120 to force the .lug 116 outwardly and swinging the member 111 so 115 moves into the recess 119." The lug 116 of the surface 118 and holds the support 111 from movement until the actuating member 117 is again moved.

The mechanism which moves the actuating member 117 is automatic in its'operation and consists of a lever 126 having one arm connected through a link 124 to said member and pivoted on a rod 31*. The

other arm of this lever engages a flat sur- -face 128 on a lever 129 (Fig. 1) which is fulcrumed on the shaft 3 1 and has an arm placed to be engaged by a cam 130 on the drum 37. By means of a spring 131 having one end attached to the bracket 109, the member 117 is normally held in its uppermost position and the lever 129 is likewise retained in position to be moved by said that the lug is thus in engagement with the lowerportion cam 130. By this construction, when the drum is rotated the. cam will move the lever 129, thereby causing the lever 136 to rock on the rod 31 and pull downwardly causing the cam 112 to be again moved toward the needle cylinder into position to move the inactive long butt needles down, and moving the cam 113 into its inactive position.

As a means for narrowing down the fabric to knit the, heel and toe portions of stockings, needle-pickers 153 and 154 are respectively pivoted on pins 155 and 156 carried-fen standards 153 and 154, which are fre eto oscillate within step bearings 157 and 158 on opposite sides of the needle cam ring 63 (see Figs. 1, 2 and The free end of each of these pickers is normally held down by springs 159 and 160, in position to engage the end needle of the short butt series as these pass along the upper level of the ledge cam during the oscillating movement of the needle cylinder; being alternately actuated to successively raise and thereby throw out of action, the end needles of said series. The pickers 153 and 154 as they are engaged by the needles, respectively slide on the upper, V-shaped edges 161 and 162 of two plates 163 and 164 and at the same time are raised thereby. It will thus be seen that as the cylinder moves in opposite directions in order to knit the toe and heel portion of the stocking, the standards 153 and 154 will oscillate in their bearings to allow the movement of the pickers in opposite directions and at the same time said pickers will rotate on their supporting pins 155 and 156, thereby lifting the needles and then returning to their normal positions.

For the purpose of lowering the raised needles, as when widening the heel or toe portions, I provide a second picker 165 pivotally mounted on a rod 166 which is free to oscillate in a standard 167 projecting from a rigid part of the frame 1. The upper part of .said standard has the form of a yoke with its free ends closed by a plate 168, whose lower edge has an inverted V- s'hape outline and forms a limiting guide member for one end of the picker. The needle engaging end 171 of the picker is normally maintained in its highest posi tion in contact with the plate 168 by a spring 169 whose ends are respectively secured to one end of said picker and to a plate 170 adjustably mounted on the stand ard 167. With this arrangement of parts, as the end needle of the raised series engages the end 171 of the picker, the latter willbe deflected along the plate 168 and move said needle downwardly into its knitting position, in which it will be engaged by the knitting cams in the usual manner.

In order that the picker 165 may at certain times be thrown out of action, I provide a lever 172 pivoted at 173 to the frame 1 and having one arm extended in position to be engaged and shifted in a horizontal plane by a cam 172 on the pattern drum 37 (Figs. 1, 2 and 5.) The other arm of said lever is curved around the cylinder so as to be capable of engaging a pin 174 on the rod 166 to turn the latter against the action of the spring 169 and thereby throw the end 171 of the picker 165 into the inoperative position shown in Fig. 1. When released by said cam 172", said lever is -moved by a spring 175 away from the pin 174 so that the spring 169 is free to swing the picker into its operative position, in which it moves the needles successively down into action as just described.

Under conditions of operation necessary for the production of a stocking, the needle cylinder is rotated by powerfrom any suitable source; it being assumed that the knitting cams are in the positions shown in Fig. 17 in which the needles are operated to form a tubular seamless leg portion. During this stage of the operation, one end of the ledge cam 70 is in engagement with the stitch cam 64, thereby insuring that all the needles pass freely over the latter. Thereafter said needles are moved downwardly by the upper center cam 66 and the stitch cam 65. Under these conditions the depending arm 21 of the sinker cam 19 is in engagement with the adjusting screw 22 because of the friction between the sinkers and sinker cam ring, so that said cam occupies the position shown in Fig. 17, in which it will move the V sinkers into mesh with the needles, to both push the yarn between them and hold the knitted web in the proper position to revent it from rising with said needles w en they move upwardly from under the titch cam 65.

' lever 129, which in turn actuates the lever 127 to efiect the downward movement of the actuating member 117. This causes the switch cam 113 to be moved toward the, needle cylinder 2 into the position shown in Fig. 1 6, so that the long butt needles will ride upwardly thereon to an inactive position where they are out of the path of the 1 knitting cams. Since at this stage of the operation, the cam 113 is far enough away from the needle cylinder not to engage the short butt needles, these will continue to be actuated by the knitting cams in'the usual manner and will knit the heel of the stockmg.

During the oscillation of the needle cylinder incident upon knitting the heel, the lifting pickers 153 and 151 will be alternately engaged by the end needles of the short butt or lower series and will raise them, as previously described, to the level of the inactive long butt needles, thus causing a gradual narrowing of the heel pocket produced. After this pocket has been sufficiently narrowed, the cam 17 2* on the pattern drum 37 moves from the position shown in Fig. 2 to an inactive position which allows the spring 175 to move the lever 17 2 away from the pin 171, thus permitting the spring 169 to move the lowering picker 165 into an operative position. During each movement of the needle cylinder, this picker lowers a predetermined number of the needles previously raised by the lifting pickers and thus causes a widening of the heel pocket, it being noted that the construction of the lifting pickers. is such that they operate during the reciprocating movement of the cylinder to lift needles while the lowering picker is lowering other needles as just described. Moreover the picker 16 5 is so designed that it lowers a plurality of needles each time either of the lifting pickers is raised, in order that it shall depress more needles than are being raised by said lifting pickers. For example, if the end of each of the lifting pickers is of such size as to lift one needle at each reciprocation of the cylinder. the lowering picker 165 will be designed to lower at least two needles for each oscillation of said cylinder, thereby gaining upon the lifting pickers until a sufficient number of the upper or inactive short butt needles has been lowered into active or knitting position to complete the widening of the heel; it having been found by experience that when pickers are operated in this manner the stocking produced will have closely knitted heel gusset-s.

When the heel is completed'the clutch of the driving mechanism is shifted in order to' again cause a continuous rotary movement of the needle cylinder. and at about the same time the cam 113 is moved away,from, while the cam 112 is moved toward, the cylinder 2 so as to be engaged by and move downwardly the remainder of the needles which were previously raised into inactive positions. At substantially the same time as this movement of the cams 112 and 113, the lowering picker 165 is thrown into the inoperative position shown in Fig. 5, by the lever 17 2 moving under the action of the cam 172 on the pattern drum in opposition to the spring 175.

One advantage of having the cams 112 and 113 mounted so as to swing toward and from the needle cylinder 2 resides in the possibility of freely removing the needle cylinder. By manually pressing down the slide 117 and turning said cylinder one revolution, the cam 113 is moved toward it and moves upwardly all of the long butt needles; it being noted that such movement of said cam will move the cam 112 from said cylinder, thereby freeing the needles and permitting the cylinder with them to be easily lifted out of its bearing.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, unless theneedles are kept in close proximity to the stitch cams before and after the needle butts have passed the loose arts of said cams they are not only liab e to shake off their stitches but in many cases have been known to vibrate to such an extent as to cause breakage of their hooked portions. It is therefore important that the passage under said stitch cams through which the needle butts pass should be kept at such width that these will have suflicient. room for their free movement without being allowed to unduly vibrate. Prior to my invention it has been found extremely dif ficult to keep this passage of the required width on account of the wear on the cams which gradually causes it to become wider, and it was frequently found that the wear on the surfaces of these cams was not always regular. This necessitated the removal of the cams for grinding and shaping purposes and required a tedious re-adjustment when the repaired cams were replaced on account of the difficulty of so mounting them as to insure the proper positioning of the several needle-engaging surfaces.

In my invention the stitch cams 64 and 65 and the cams 71 and 72 may be removed for grinding and quickly replaced and adjusted in such manner as to provide needle passages of the proper width, their construction being such that after removal, they may be reof a cylinder; a memberhaving two cams;

and means for oscillating said member on an axis parallel to a tangent to the cylinder to move one of said cams into engagementwith the needles to raise them to an inoperative position and to move the other of said cams out of engagement with said needles.

2. The combination in a knittin machine of a needle cylinder; needles therein having butts; a member mounted to turn on a horizontal pivot and including two cams arranged one above the other; and means for swinging said member on its pivot to alternately move its cams toward and from the cylinder surface to bring them into and out of position to be engaged by the butts of the needles.

3. The combination in a knitting machine of a needle cylinder; needles therein having butts; a member movable on a pivot sub stantially parallel with a tangent to the cylinder and having two cams of which one is formed to engage the needle butts to raise the needles and the other is formed to lower said needles; and means for swinging said member on its pivot to alternately move the cams into and out of the path of said needle butts.

4. The combination in a knitting machine of a needle cylinder; needles therein having butts; a pivoted member including two cams; and a reciprocable element operative on said member for alternately swinging the cams on an axis at right angles to the center line of the cylinder toward and from said support to brin them into and out of position to engage t e needle butts.

5. The combination in a knitting machine of a needle cylinder needles therein; a piv- 'oted member inclu ing two cams; projections on said member; and a reciprocable structure having portions for engaging said projections to swing the cams alternately toward the needles to actuate the latter.

6. The combination in a knitting machine of a needle support; needles; a pivoted member including two cams; projections on said member; and a movable structure having portions for engaging said projections to swing the cams alternately into positions to actuate the needles and including a part forming an abutment for said projections to lock said cams in their active positions.

7. The combination in a knitting machine of a needle support; needles therein; a pivoted member including two cams and having projections; with an actuating structure having operating faces and movable to bring said faces into engagement with said projections to swing the cams alternately toward the needles to actuate the same.

8. The combination in a knitting machine of a needle support; needles therein; a piv oted member including two cams and having projections; with an actuating. structure having operating faces, and movable to bring said faces into engagement with said projections to alternately swin the cams toward the needles to actuate tr e same, said actuating structure also having a portion. forming an abutment for said projections to lock the cams in their active positions ELMER U. AMES, 

